Sutton's The Baptist Reformation offers 'mom and pop' Baptists view of movement

by Tammi Reed Ledbetter                                                                         Vo. XIII, No. 8,  August 2000

Southern Baptist seminaries and church pews are filled with people who never heard the catch phrases used during the years of controversy in the convention. Out of the moderate camp came references to unity in diversity, authentic pluralism, doublespeak and crass secular political methodology. Conservative apologists spoke of theological integrity, Ruschlikon, while challenging the Gatlinburg Gang and interpretive history.

Baptist historian Jerry Sutton, pastor of Two Rivers Baptist Church, Nashville, TN, provides the context and clarification of such terms. In his newly released book, The Baptist Reformation, he tells the story behind the phrases that filled the conversation and publications of Southern Baptists during the 1980s and 1990s.

Published by Broadman & Holman, the trade books division of LifeWay Christian Resources of the Southern Baptist Convention, Sutton's book is the most thorough recounting of the years of the conservative resurgence in a single volume. While acknowledging his own active participation in the conservative cause, Sutton offers the views of both sides in the debate between moderates and conservatives to substantiate his conclusions.

He brings back to memory the impassioned preaching of Roy Honeycutt regarding "holy war," Russell Dilday appealing for "higher ground," W.A. Criswell's challenge of "whether we live or die," James Robison asking, "Where are the prophets?" and R. Albert Mohler Jr.'s "What mean these stones?"

LifeWay President James T. Draper Jr. observes in his foreword to the book that Sutton provides a new dimension to the history of the controversy by interacting with past interpreters of the controversy. Sutton challenges the reasoning and conclusions of earlier histories by moderates Bill Leonard, Walter Shurden and Grady Cothen to whom secular analysts often turn for an explanation of the dramatic change in the nation's largest non-Catholic denomination.

While earlier historians have quoted diverse opinions, Sutton provides extensive quotations from primary sources drawn in context from published statements and writings. The 48-page section of footnotes reveals the extent of Sutton's research.

"Carefully, Jerry Sutton describes the drift that was carrying Southern Baptists away from their biblical roots toward relativism and secularism," Draper writes. "He traces the mounting tension between the SBC agency and institutional leadership and the conservative foundation of the denomination."

Sutton's intended audience goes beyond the academic community. Aimed at "the average mom-and-pop Baptist," Sutton tells of writing for "pastors, deacons, Sunday school teachers and laypeople who want to know the inside story of what really happened and why."

The Baptist Reformation is available at LifeWay Christian Stores across the country, or it can be ordered through the bookstores' toll-free number, 1-800-233-1123, or Internet site, www.lifewaystores.com. [BP]